1886-09-21ao

“A ghost story is startling what few superstitious people there are in the east end of the city. The ghost was first seen last Thursday night prowling around the eastern terminus of Jackson street and on Wellington street.”

Hamilton Spectator.   September 21, 1886

Readers of the Spectator who did not live in the immediate neighborhood of the far east end of Jackson Street East or Wellington Street South, south of Main street, might have been startled to read on a Monday morning that a ghost had been seen on streets in east Hamilton during the previous Saturday night.

In the column it was pointed out that police veteran, and holder of Badge #1, Peter Ferris reacted when he heard shots fired, reportedly at the ghost:

“Saturday night it was fired upon, and Constable Ferris, who lives in the vicinity, hearing the reports, went out to arrest the disturber, but could not find him.”¹

¹ “A Ghost Story.”

Hamilton Spectator.   September 21, 1886

      

By the next day, rumors of a ghost haunting the neighborhoods mentioned had spread all over the city:

“Sunday night, hundreds of people walked around in the vicinity until nearly midnight but could see nothing out of the common.

“One young lady, though, became so frightened that she fainted and had to be taken home in a hack.

“If the alleged practical joker who is making a fool of himself by trying to frighten timid women is caught, things will be made uncomfortably warm for him.”¹

It only took a few days before the story behind the ‘haunting’ was discovered and why the’ ghost’ was acting as he did:

 “People in the east end of the city are getting more excited everyday over the ghost story that has been referred to in the Spectator in the last day or two.

“Tuesday night again, several hundred people stood around the corners of Jackson and Wellington, and Jackson and Spring streets. They three stones at the tannery, and shouted and howled around in a supremely idiotic manner. The patrol wagon went down with a posse of seven or eight policemen, and the wagon was followed by a small procession of carriages.

“The ‘ghost’ did not put in an appearance, however, and about 10 o’clock, the crowd dispersed.

“To those who know the real state of affairs, the whole thing is eminently ludicrous, and the free people who are in the swim, are having a quiet laugh at the expense of those who go there expecting to see something mysterious and terrible.

“The fact of the matter simply is that a young person of the female persuasion, who lives in that locality, is sought after by another person of the male persuasion, who happens to be married.

“For various reasons, best known to himself, the married man prefers to keep his identity secret, and when he clandestinely meets the young woman, he disguises himself in a long coat and a slough felt hat. Being very much afraid that people will notice him particularly, he does all he can to attract their attention by walking in a stealthy and mysterious manner, dodging around trees, hiding in alleys and doing other things equally idiotic. Some people saw him, of course, and started the little ghost story which spread and has caused all this trouble.²

² “The East End Ghost : A Romantic Little Tale That Unveils the Mystery”

Hamilton Spectator.    September 23, 1886.

1883-11-19im

The Palladium of Labor, published in Hamilton, was a weekly newspaper, an organ of the activist organization, the Knights of Labor.

On November 19, 1883, the Palladium published a letter written by a young, highly-opinionated and very literate young woman. The letter was prompted by two things, subjects which interacted.

First, was the judgment and sentence rendered in the case of a Toronto man charged and convicted of murder.  Second was the case of Maria McCabe, a Hamilton servant girl, who had given birth out of wedlock and who had subsequently murdered his baby.

The impassioned latter follows :

“To the Editor of the Palladium :

          “Sir, - Girls have nothing to do with the making of the laws by which they are governed, consequently are not expected to criticize them in anyway. However, I cannot help remarking the many inconsistencies of British law as administered in Canada.

“I could mention scores of cases disposed of in Ontario with the past few years, but I will refer only to two at present. The first is that of the Queen vs. Andrews, tried at the York Assizes last week. A man named Andrews deliberately shot and killed on named Maroney, the evidence shows that it was a clear case of willful murder, and so thought the jury, but when they returned their verdict of willful murder with a recommendation to mercy attached, the court would not accept it, but sent them back to their room where they immediately discovered that the accused was not guilty of murder but of manslaughter, and he, Andrews, was sentenced to four years in the Penitentiary. He was then tried for shooting at a policeman with intent. Found guilty and sentenced to one year in the Penitentiary, the second term to run concurrent with the first, which means if I mistake not, four years for the two offences., the second trial being only a farce or a few yards of red tape, for although found guilty and sentenced to twelve months, it did not add a single moment to his term of imprisonment. There is a man who kills another and attempts a second without any cause or provocation whatever and all he receives is four years confinement.

“The other case is that of the unfortunate Maria McCabe, which is attracting so much attention at the present time. She stood accused of willful murder, acknowledged her guilt and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck, etc.

“Now, sir, there is something very inconsistent about those cases; in the Toronto one, the man who committed the foul deed is a lazy, gambling hoodlum, his victim was an industrious young man, the only support of a widowed mother, and three or four small brothers and sisters, and the cowardly villain who murdered him in cold blood receives the same punishment for the awful crime that was the other day inflicted on a man for stealing a calf.

“Unlike Andrews, Maria McCabe, after suffering untold agonies of body and mind, destroys her babe and is doomed for death – for whether she is reprieved or not – she will, to all intents and purposes, be consigned to the tomb, for a helpless young girl of eighteen, without friends to intercede for her, might, in a sense, as well be laid in the grave as locked in the prison cell, for she is dead to the world in either case, and death, I should think, would turn to her a happy relief. But God forbid that she should die on the scaffold – unnatural as her crime is, she has already suffered ten times the punishment inflicted on Maroney’s murderer – a man without a single redeeming quality or the shadow of an excuse for his crime, while she has every excuse that could be offered under the circumstance.

“Perishing with cold and hunger in the streets, without friend home or habitation; laughed and jeered at by the unnatural scoundrel, father of her infant; told by our unfeeling and charitable Chief Magistrate to look to that father for support; and finally thrust on the street with her babe in her arms in the dead of night by the woman, Foster, under such circumstances, it is a disgrace to civilization to hold her accountable for her actions, but Mayor Magill and the woman Foster ought to be held out accountable for theirs. If the latter has any respect for her reputation, she certainly ought not object to give her reasons, first for preventing the removal of the child to St. Joseph’s Convent when the sisters had agreed to take it; second, why did she turn the mother and child out of her house at midnight; and third, why did she swear at the Coroner’s Inquest that she wanted to adopt the baby, but the mother wouldn’t give it to her, when her conduct clearly shows that she did not want to do anything of the kind. Answers to these questions are in order, and I hope Mrs. Foster will attend to it. The Mayor should also be called on for an explanation, respecting the part he played in the tragedy if he could do nothing for the girl. What, I ask, is the House of Refuge for; to my knowledge, many women in Maria McCabe’s condition have found shelter in it, then why, I pray, was she excluded? Her destitute and helpless condition would have been sufficient passport to admit her if the Mayor was what all Mayors ought to be, white-souled, generous-hearted gentlemen, instead of heartless, attenuated, fossil remnant, which his conduct in her case has shown him to be.

“When I commenced to write, I intended to say something about the father, but I guess he is hardly worth speaking of, he certainly is not a man, and it would be a libel on the brute creation to rank him as one of their number, for he lacks the necessary instinct to provide for his offspring, and is disqualified in consequence.

“If I ever write to you again, I will show you wherein organization would benefit the girls, not only respecting remuneration for their labor, but for cases of sickness and destitution. Do you doubt but that Maria McCabe would have been provided for if the girls of this city had been properly organized? I don’t; for I am certain she would have been cared for whether she was a member or not.

“Now Mr. Editor, in concluding, perhaps I ought to apologize, as it may seem to some of your readers very naughty of a girl to call things by their proper names, but if it is hereafter to be one law for men and another for women, I think it is high time that the latter raise their voices to the highest pitch, and, as the saying goes, ‘call a spade a spade.’

                                      Yours, etc.

                                                A Canadian Girl.

November 16, 1883.¹

¹“Correspondence : Law and Justice : To the Editor of the Palladium”

Palladium of Labor.    November 19, 1883.

1883-11-24rx

The local militia organization of Hamilton in 1883 was the 13^th Battalion, a unit in which most Hamiltonians took great interest and pride.

A memorable evening for the 13^th Battalion was on November 24, 1883 :

“Last evening the prizes won at the seventeenth annual rifle matches of the 13^th Battalion were presented at the Drill Shed. The occasion called forth a large attendance of ‘fair women and brave men.’

“These matches were held on the 17^th and 18^th of October last, and would have been distributed earlier only that the regiment were fully occupied in preparing for the annual inspection two weeks ago by General Luard.

“The corps has every reason to be proud of the display made last night, as besides the prizes to be given out, the various trophies won by the regiment, and now in permanent possession, were exhibited. On a dias situated on the north side of the shed, these trophies were displayed, and consisted of over twenty pieces of solid silver and electroplate which over $2,000, ranging from the large silver cup presented by the merchants of Toronto to the O.R.A., which cost $500, and was won permanently won by the 13^th two years ago, to the more modest but handsome cups won by individual members of the battalion.

“The battalion was formed up in line facing the dias, officers in front, and the distribution of the individual prizes was made by Lt.-Col. Skinner, when over 100 prizes, valued at about $400 were given to the successful competitors. Major Moore assisted Col. Skinner in this part of the proceeding by calling out the names of the men, and the names of the donors where they were in kind. As the winners came forward, they were in many instances heartily cheered by their comrades and the audience.

“After the presentation, Col. Skinner made an address in which he complimented the corps on their success during the year. He thanked the gentlemen and ladies who by their presence that night evinced their interest in the regiment, and also who through their generosity had so good a prize list this year.

“The Mayor, at Col. Skinner’s request, also addressed the regiment and their friends, and expressed the satisfaction that he, as Chief Magistrate recently felt when he heard the approving remarks of General Luard to the 13^th, an officer who was not given to bestowing praise when it was not due.  He considered that the 13^th possessed some of the best marksmen in the Dominion, who made reputations for themselves not only in Canada but in the mother at Wimbledon, and hoped that the corps would long maintain its present distinction.

“After the presentation, the regiment was dismissed, and the band played a short selection, while the officers received their friends in their quarters and dispensed the hospitality for which the corps is so well-known on such occasions. The officers’ rooms were thrown open, and their elegance was greatly enhanced by the handsome floral display made by Mr. Robert Harper, gardener of the Drill Shed grounds. A large number of the elite of Hamilton were present and many expressions of pleasure were heard.”

The Drill Shed from an 1876 Bird's Eye View Map

1883-10-05tt

One of the prime locations for attendees of the 1883 Great Central Fair in Hamilton was the Crystal Palace.

During the evening of October 4, 1883, the band of the Thirteenth Band played while fairgoers both listened and inspected the many exhibits.

The following word picture composed by a reporter with the Hamilton Spectator captured the scene:

“The interior of the Crystal Palace was resplendent with illumination from the thousand and one gas jets. From the dome to the floor, and in the four wings, the bright light dispelled all shadows, and brought into quick view the magnificent display of industries.

“The many aisles up and down were thronged with young and old, their faces reflecting the happy interest taken in the scene presented.

“Throughout the large building floated the harmony from the Thirteenth Battalion band, causing the steps of the listeners to grow more elastic, and giving a vivacious turn to their conversation and comments on the exhibits.”¹

¹“Great Central Fair: The Second Day Opens Auspiciously”

Hamilton Spectator.    October 11, 1883.

The next day, that same reporter was again on assignment at the Great Central Fair. His report on the third day of the fair’s 1883 run, published in the afternoon edition of the paper flows:

“An immense crowd of people attended the Great Central Fair here today. Although the attendance yesterday was so large, it was quite evident the majority of people were holding back for Thursday, which is looked upon as the best day of the fair. Then hundreds of people from the country kill two birds with one stone by waiting for market day and bringing in their produce and seeing the show in one day – a considerable task by the way.

“It was seen early in the morning that today was the ‘big day of the fair. The railways brought hundreds of sightseers on early trains from Guelph, Brantford, Paris, London, Harrisburg, Elora, Milton, Georgetown, Caledonia, Hagersville and many other towns, and the roads were fairly hued with rigs bringing in farmers from all parts of Wentworth and the adjoining counties.

“In fact, this year’s show has made the Great Central Fair the great rival of the Toronto  exhibition and, as one pleasantly surprised farmer remarked ‘this beats the Provincial and London all hollow.’ ”²

² “Great Central Fair : The Third Day Brings An Immense Crowd”

Hamilton Spectator.  October 5, 1883